Automatic line justification means



Sept. 17, 1940. 5 M EN 2,215,119.

' AUTOMATIC LINE JUSTIFICATION MEANS Filed July 27, 1936 s Sheets-Sheet '1 INVENTOR.

fierye/ M Fame ,o

Sept l7, 1940. 4

s. FOMENKO AUTOMATIC LINE JUSTIFICATION MEANS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 27, 1936 lvllllillllilf .l/lllllllli mm m MZW r Sept. 17, 1940. s. M. FOMENKO AUTOMATIC LINE JUSTIFICATION MEANS Filed July .27, 1936 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 m m HTFH @3223 23 we 3 320 3333 53.3w IS EBGE In 0 H INVENTOR. Serge! M. Fomen/ o Patented Sept. 17, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,215,119 AUTOMATIC LINE JUSTIFICATION MEANS Sergei M. Fomenko, Palo Alto, Calif. application July 2'1, 1936, Serial No. 92,719

16 Claims.

The invention relates to typewriters, printing machines and the like, and to the carriage moving and spacing mechanism on these devices. More particularly the present invention relates is to a mechanism as disclosed in my pending application, Serial Number 73,272 filed April 8, 1936, of which application this application forms a continuation-in-part.

An object of the invention is to provide in a device of the character described an automatic line 'justification means which will efiect'a slight and unnoticeable variation in the size of the letter spacing over a substantial portion of the line f whereby the decrease of spacings for causing a 5 vertical alignment of the right-hand end of the line will be distributed over said line or a substantial portion thereof not only between the words, as has been. heretofore provided, but also in the words themselves whereby, notwithstandmg the vertical alignment of the ends of the line and a variation in the letter spaces in the lines, no line will appear either crowded or expanded and no excessive spaces will appear between the words of the line as is common in ordinary justifled'printed matter.

' Another object of the invention is to provide an automatic line justification means of the char acter described which will provide for the automatic justification of type or printed matter throughout a'wide range of column widths and for causing a uniform spacing of the letters in each line regardless of the column width.

A further object of the invention is to provide an automatic line justification means which is adapted to justify several columns on a single part of the typed or printed page.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an automatic line justification means of the character above in which the several parts thereof will be specially designedto provide a maximum simplicity and positiveness of operation and be further adapted for use with present types of construction of typewriters and printing ma- 5 chines. i I

- The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the following description of the preferred form 'of the invention which 50 is illustrated in the drawings accompanyingand forming part of the specification. It is to be understood, however, that variations in the showing made by the said drawings and description may be adopted within the scope of the invention 55 as set forth in the claims.

' page or a column located at substantially any Referring to said drawings: I

Figure 1 is a plan view of a line justification means constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a rear elevation of the apparatus 5 illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view of the apparatus taken substantially on the plane of line 3-3 of Figure 1. v

Figure 4 is a transverse view shown partly in 10 section and taken substantially on the plane of line 4-4 of-Flgure 1.

Figure 5 is a printed reproduction of a typed column as produced by a standard typewriter.

, Figure 6 is a printed reproduction of the same 15 column produced by the apparatus of the present invention.

The apparatus of the present invention, and as illustrated in the drawings, is arranged for use in combination with-a standard typewriter or 20 printing machine or any recording machine of this character having a base support or frame, a movable carriage and some means, such as an escapement mechanism operated through an assembly of type and keys, for releasing the car- 25 riage for'movement' in steps relative to the frame or support for spacing 'the letters and words of each recorded line. This type of mechanism is well known in the art and only parts thereof are here shown so as to simplify the disclosure and 30 better illustrate the operation of the line justification means of the present invention. For the purpose of the present disclosure there is illustrated part only of a carriage 1 and a carriage rack 8, the usual escapement mechanism for re- 5 leasing such rack for movement and a frame support of the mechanism as well as the keys and.

type and operating connections between the escapement and keys having been omitted in view of clarity and simplicity. As will be understood, in the usual typewriter or printing machine of this character the escape- Inent mechanism operates through a pinion to release the rack and carriage for movement by.

a tape 23 drawn by a spring mechanism, not

shown, so that the displacement of the carriage is exactly equal to the movement of the escapement mechanism. Thus for any given length'of recorded line the number of letter spaces isalways constant, and since usually the number of letter spaces must vary with each line, the lengths of the recorded lines are not uniform and an irregular right-hand margin results. With such a machine a justification of the lines may be effected only by a tedious and slow adjustment of the spaces between the words, which is not always satisfactory for the reason that the irregular spacing which is thereby required between the words is immediately apparent on viewing the recorded work. In accordance with the present invention, however, and as previously stated as an important object thereof, the size of the letter spaces for each line may be minutely adjusted so as to change the number of spaces in the line by one space so that a plurality of lines may be recorded, each differing from the other by a progres'sion of one letter space. Furthermore, this increase in the size of the letter space is distributed over the line,,or a substantial portion there- 15 of, so that the change of space between the letters and the words of the different lines will be entirely unnoticeable and the recorded work, as a whole, will have the appearance of perfect uniformitynotwithstanding the vertical alignment of the ends of the line and the variant number of spaces in the lines themselves.

This change in the size and number of letter spaces for a given length of line is effected by the interpositioning between the carriage rack and the carriage proper of a mechanism which will modify the movement permitted by the escapement mechanism to the carriage and which is displaceable to regulate the size of the steps of movement ,7 at the carriage. As will be seen from Figure 1 of the drawings, the rack 8 is mounted for movement relative to the carriage 1 by means of a sleeve 9 connected by brackets II and I2 to the ends of the rack 8 and which sleeve is reciprocally carried on a shaft I3 -ex- 5 tending longitudinally between the end plates I4 the shaft and I6 of the carriage. Preferably, due to the offset connection between therack and shaft}, a spring. I0 is connected between the bracket I and carriage plate I4 for holding the rack in engagement with the escapement, pinion (not shown). Means for transmitting the movement of the rack to the carriage proper consists of a crank I1 including an arm I8 'journalled by means of a shaft I9 to the carriage and including a lever member 2I which is in turn connected by a link 22 to the rack 8', the other end of the arm I8 being provided with a roller 20 which engages with an incline member 25 carried by the frame or support of the typewriter or printing machine. Thus as the carriage and-ra ck are released by the escapement mechanism and drawn widthwise of the arm by means of the tape 23, the arm I8 will be rotated by reason of the movement of the roller 28 over the incline member 25 and a relative displacement between the rack 8 and carriage 1 thereby effected according to the relative eccentric positioning of the link 22 and the member 2I to allow the carriage to move slightly further than the rack.

Viewed with greater detail it will be seen that I9 of the crank I1 i jou'rnalled in a bearing block 24 secured to the end wall I6 of the carriage, and the arm I8 of the crank extends for a considerable distance from the shaft I9 so that its rotational displacement may be minutely gauged, and also tg' minimize the vertical reacting force on the arm I8 tending to lift the carriage from the frame. of the typewriter. As will be further seen from lfigure 3, the lever member 2| is positioned on the shaft I9 at the forward end of the bearing block 24 and is provided with a lateral through the axis of the shaft I9. Formed in the face 26 are a plurality of notches 21 which are positioned on the face at uniform distances face 26 which passes from the axis of the shaft I 8 to the outer end of the face. The link 22- is pivoted to the bracket I'I adjacent the end I4 of the carriage and exprovided with a pin 3| for engagement in one of the several notches 21 in the face 26 of the eccentric member. To facilitate the selective engagement of the pin with the notches, the outer end 28 of the link is preferably formed as a handle for enabling the ready vertical manipulation of the link member. Also it will be noted that the spring I8 will function to resiliently retain the pin 3| in the desired notch of member 2|, this being particularly desired during the return movement of the carriage 1, since at such period the tension provided by the tape 23 is released. Preferably a graduated plate 32 is secured to the end wall I6 of the carriage and opposite the hand1e'28 for indicating the notch engaged by the pin 3|.

In the present arrangement of the lever 2 I, the lowermost notch 21 is positioned on the face 26 directly opposite the axis of the shaft I6 whereby with the pin 3| engaged in such notch there will be .no relative movement between the carriage and the rack regardless of the angular position of the arm I8. As will be understood, the movement of the pin 3| to the successive outer notches v21 on the face 26 will successively increase the amount of relative displacement be-.- tween the carriage and the rack for a given length of movement of the carriage assembly relative to the frame. In order that 51161308151011: ing of the pin 3 I in the successive outer notches will produce a substantially constant increment of displacement between the carriage and rack, three relatively important physical characteristics of thesmechanism'must be observed; First, the notches themselves should be equally and uniformly spaced on the face 26. Secondly the base of the notches should be positioned on a curved line having as the center of curvature for the longitudinal and angular displacement of the arm I8 relative to the incline member as the carriage moves'relative to the frame. In the accompanying drawings, the curve of the incline memberpresented to the roller 20 has been calculated j to give a substantially uniform rotation of the arm I8 for an average column length of fifty letter spaces as gauged on the standard typewriter. I have found that by the use of such a curve, the error present in column widths ranging from 25 to 75 letter spaces is entirely negligible.- In orderto produce a perfectly vertical right-hand margin, it is f her necessary that the modifying means be taken out of operation at a point where, for any member 25 the notch 21 adjacent the first notch 21 will produce exactly one less letter space in the line than with the pin'positioned in the notch 21', and. with the pin positioned in the second outer notch exactly two letter spaces less. and

given incline of the so on. In other words, for a given distance of separation of the notches 21 there will be an exact elevation on" the incline member 25 regardless' of the latter's angularity wherein the above relationship shall exist, or, stated in another way, there is one rotative position of the lever member 2| wherein the horizontal components of movement of the several notches will vary from each other by exactly oneletter space.

To take, the modifying means out of operation at this angular position of the lever member 2!, a'set-screw 35 is positioned on the end wall I6 ofthe carriage and may be adjusted to engage the lower end 31 of the lever member 2| to stop this member in its critical rotative position.

As an important feature of the present invention, I may vary over a relatively wide range the width of the recorded column within which the various positions of the pin 8| in the notches 21 will produce a complete letter space differential in the recorded line. This is eifected by changing the pitch or angularity of the incline member 25 so that the aforementioned rotational displacement of the arm- 18 to produce an exact vertical alignment of the right-hand margin of the column may be effected for various widthwise movements of the carriage relative to the frame. The means of adjusting the pitch of the incline member may be seen from Figures 2, 3 and 4 and as'there illustrated comprises a frame supported structure 38 to which an end 39 of the incline member 25 is pivoted. Mounted transversely from the structure 38 below and. to one side of the pivotal connection of the incline member is a tranverse pin 41 which supports the underside d2 of the incline member and is adjustable by means of a screw 53 to change the pitch or incline of the member 25. More specifically the supporting structure 38 comprises a pair of flat plates 44 and 45 which are connected at, their upper and lower ends with spacer bars 46 and 41 and are supported by the bar 46 on a frame supported bracket 48, the latter being secured to the frame of thetypewriter (not shown) and having an outer side 49 in the form of a flat strap or band which is enclosed, between the plates 44 and 45 and the spacer bars 46 and 41. The central portion of the lower spacer bar 41 is formed with a longitudinal open portion 51 in which is reciprocally mounted a slide member screw and longitudinal adjustment of the'pin 4|. In practice the screw 43 is set by moving the carriage to the extreme right margin'of the page to be recorded and then the screw 43 is adjusted so as to bring the arm l8 to its final rotated position, that is with the lower end 31.

of the arm engaged with the end of the screw 36. This operation may be facilitated by themounting of a graduated scale 10 on the plate 44 and an indicator member 1| on the slide 52. Thus by appropriate adjustment of the screw 43, and of the pitch of the incline member 25,

substantially any width of column may be recorded with the right-hand margin thereof perfectly justified.

As a further important feature of the present invention, I may adjust the widthwise position of the incline member25 relative to the frame whereby a justified recorded column may be variously positioned over a wide range on the 49, and within the enclosure defined by the plates 44 and 55 and the spacer bars 46 and 41, a plate 4! on the upper edge of which are provided a plurality of longitudinaily spaced notches 51. Pivotally mounted in a cut-away portion 58 at the end of the upper spacer bar s6, is a key 59 which is normally rocked by a spring 51 to engage a pawl 62 at the opposite end of the key in one of the notches 51 to thereby hold the supporting structure 38 against widthwise movement on the frame members 58 and 59. However, on depression of the end 63 of the key opposite the pawl 62 to withdraw the pawl from one of the notches, the assembly 38, together with the incline member 25, may be freely adjusted widthwise of the frame and held fixed in adjusted positions by re-engaging the pawl 62 with an appropriate notch 51; Desirably these notches are spaced by a uniform distance, say of one-half inch, whereby the left-hand margin of the column may be adjusted'on the recorded page as desired. In operation the carriage is set at the left-hand margin of the column to be recorded and the operator then adjusts the supporting structure 33 widthwise of the frame to position the pivotal connection of the upper end 39 of the incline member directly under the roller 2|). Preferably a horizontal plate 66 is mounted adjacent the incline member 25 for supporting the roller 28 when the latter is tothe left of the incline member 25 and during the widthwise adjustment of this member.

In operating the present apparatus, the subject matter to be recorded is preferably first typed on a standard typewriter or the like, or on the present apparatus with the pin 3| positioned in the lowermost notch 21' to prevent any modification of the size of the letter space.

Such a standard recorded column is illustrated in' Figure 5 of the drawings. The irregularity of the right-hand margin may be simply analyzed by drawing one or more vertical lines roller 20. The carriage is then moved to the arm l8 into a rotative position where the lower end 21 of the eccentric member is engaged by the set screw 36. The operator is then ready to start. Before starting to type the first line the operator notes that such line is three spaces short of the longest line in the recorded column, and accordingly he moves the handle 28 to engage the pin 3| with the third notch from the pivotal connection of the lever member 2| and then proceeds to type the line in the usual fashion. Since the second line is equally short the handle 28 is left in the same position for the typing of the second line, but prior to the typing of the third line the operator, noting that this line is seven spaces short, moves the handle to the seventh notch 21 from the pivotal connection of the eccentric member 2|. with a proper initial setting of the handle 28.

The result of the above recording made in the manner described with the present apparatus is illustrated in Figure 6, wherein it will be noted that each short line in the original recording has been lengthened to exactly thesame length as the longest line and a perfect vertical alignment of the right-hand margin of the recorded subject matter results. Figures 5 and 6 have been printed from plates made by a photoprinting process and are exact reproductions of the two sets of .typing, only reduced.

7 gageable with said incline member to rotate said arm on movement of said carriage relative. to

said support, and means carried by said carriage and actuated by the rotation of said arm I v to modify the size of said steps, said incline member being curved to provide substantially uniform rotation of said arm for each length of geisplacernent of said arm over said incline mem- 2. In a. line justifying means for a typewriter or the like having a support, a carriage movable on said support, means for moving said carriage insteps to space the letters of a recorded line, an incline member secured to said support, an arm pivoted to said carriage and engageable with said incline member to rotate said arm on movement of said carriage relative to said support, and means carried by said car- .riage and actuated by the rotation of said arm to modify the size of said-steps, and stop means independent of said incline member positioned to engage said arm after a predetermined arouate movement thereof corresponding to an actuation of said last named means to justify a recorded line. 1

3. A line justifying means for a typewriter or the like having a frame, an escapement mechanism, a carriage movably mounted on said frame, a rack mounted on and movablerelah tive to said carriage and connected to said escapement mechanism, a mechanism inter posed between said rack and carriage for modifying the movement from said escapement -mechanism to said carriage comprising, an-in- 'cline member mounted 'on said frame, a crank mounted on said carriage, an arm rotated by said crank on movement thereof over said incline member upon displacement of 1d r e movable part, means for moving said part in 75 The following lines are then typed ative to said frame, a link pivoted to said rack and engageable with a face of said'arm at selective distances from the latters axis of rotation, said arm face being curved with the point of pivotal connection of said linkwith said rack as the center of curvature.

4. Aline justifying meansas characterized in a claim 3 wherein said arm face is provided with a plurality of notches positioned in successively spaced relation from the axis of rotation of said arm, a pin on said link engageable with saidnotches; a handle portion at the end of said link extending beyond said arm, and a graduated ,plate positioned adjacent said handle portion for indicating the relative "engagement pin and notches.

5'. A line justifying means for a typewriter or the like having a frame, an escapement mechanism, a carriage mounted on and movable of said widthwise of said frame, springmeans for drawing said carriage to. one side of said frame, a rack movably mounted on said carriage and releasedfor movement in steps by said escapement mechanism, a guide mounted on andextending widthwise of said frame, a slide on said guide, means for holding the slide in adjusted position on said guide, an arm pivoted to said slide, means for adjusting the angularity of said arm relative to said frame, a crank member rotatably mounted on said carriage and engageable with said arm to rotate said crank on movementot said carriage relative to said frame,- a lever rotated by said crank, and a'link pivoted to said rack and engageable with said lever at selective distances from the latters axis of rotation for controlling. the relative movement of said rack and said carriage.

6. A line justifying means for a typewriter or the like having a support, a carriage movable on said support, a part movably'carried 40 r by said carriage, means for moving said part in steps to space the letters of a recorded line,

a mechanism for difierentiating betweenv the movement of said part and the carriage tomodify the size of said steps at the, carriage and comprising, cam and follower means mounted a movable member carried by said carriage,

means connecting said support and movable member for releasing said member for moye-" ment in steps to spacethe letters of a recorded line, an incline member mounted on said sup -v port, a member rotatably carried by'said carriage and engageable with said incline member, a lever carried by said carriage and rotated by said member upon relative displacemeutof said carriage and support, and a member connected to said movable carriage member'and engageable with said lever at selective distances 1 from the latters axis of rotation. v 8. ,In a line'justifying means fora typewriter or the like'having a support, a carriage movable on said support and having a relatively rotation of said lever, means for rotating said lever upon movement of .said carriage relative to said support and being adjustable for causing theaforesaid predetermined rotation of said lever for different lengths of movement of saidcarriage.

9. In a line justifying means for a typewriter or the like having a support, a carriage mounted for movement on said support, means for moving said carriage in steps to space the letters of a recorded line, an incline member secured to said support, a movable member on said carriage engageable with and movable by said incline member, means mounted on said carriage and actuated by the movement of said movable member relative to said incline member to modify the size of said steps, means for moving said incline member in the direction of movement of said carriage relative to said support for controlling the position of the space on a recorded page over which the modification in size of said steps is effected, and movable abutment means for said incline member carried by and move able'with said last named means for adjusting the pitch of said incline member.

10. In a line justifying means for a typewriter or the like having a frame, a carriage movable on said frameymeans for'moving said carriage insteps to space the letters of a recorded line, a slide bar provided on said frame,

a bracket slidably mounted on said slide bar,

a holding mechanism carried by saidbracket and engageable with said bar forjadiustably positioning said bracket on said bar, an inclined member pivotally mounted on said bracket, a threaded screw means carried by said bracket. and abutting said incline member for adjusting the slope thereof, indicia means provided on said bracket for indicating the pitch of said incline member, a. movable member on said carriage engageable with said incline member, and means mounted on said carriage and actuated by the relative movement of said movable member on said incline member to modify the size of said steps.

11. In a line justifying means for a typewriter or the like having a support, a carriage movable on said support and having a relatively movable part, means for moving said part in steps to space the letters of .a recorded line, connection means between said carriage and part comprising a lever member and means con-' nectible thereto at a plurality of distances from the center of rotation thereof for diflerentiating between the movement ,of said carriage and part by a plurality'of whole steps for a predetermined rotation of said lever member, and means for rotating said lever member through said predetermined rotation upon. a predetermined movement of said carriage on said sup- 12. In a line justifying means fora typewriter or the like having a support, a carriage movable on said support and having a relatively movable part, means for moving said part in steps to space the letters of a recorded line, connection means between said carriage and part comprising, a member pivoted at one end to said part, a lever mounted on said carriage and provided with a plurality of connection portions for the opposite end of said member, said portions being equally spaced from the pivotal axis of saidfirst end of said member and at a plurality of distances from the center of rotation of said lever for-causing a difierentiation between the movement of said carriage and part by a plurality of whole steps for a predetermined rotation of said lever, and means for rotating said lever through said predetermined rotation upon a predetermined movement of said carriage on said support.

13. In a line justifying means for a typewriter or the like comprising a support, a carriage movable on said support, means for moving said carriage in steps relative to said support to space the letters of a recorded line, a cam mounted on said support, a follower mountedters of a recorded line, an incline member se-' cured to said support, a movable member onsaid carriage engageable with and movable by saidincline member, mechanism mounted on said carriage and operative by the movement of said movvable member relative to said incline member to modify the size of said steps, movable supporting means on said support forsaid incline member for moving the latter in the direction of said movement of said carriage relative to said support for controlling the position of the space ona recorded page over which the modification of the size of said steps is effected, and movable abutment means for said incline member supported by and movable with said first means for adjusting the pitch 'of said incline member.

15. In a line justifying means for a typewriter, or. the like, having a support,a carriage movable on said support, means for moving said carriage in steps to space the letters of a recorded line, an incline member secured to said support, a member movably supported on said carriage and engaged with said incline member to cause a displacement of said second member relative to said carriage upon movement of said carriage relative to said support, and means carried by said carriage and connected to said second member and actuated by said displacement to modify the size of said steps, said last named means being adjustable to vary the size of said steps for a fixed incline of said incline connected to said second member and actuated 76 by said displacement to modify the size of said of recorded line, and means for adjusting the steps, said means including as part thereof a pitch of said incline member for controlling the lever the effective length of which is adjustable length of line over which the modification in to provide a plurality of step sizes for a single size of said steps is eflected. I 5 pitch of said incline member to uniformly space 5 different numbers of letters in a given length BERGEI M. FOMENKO. 

